which book to buy?

There are quite a few good books - I would recommend the following: The World Atlas of Whisky by Dave Broom : excellent; Michael Jackson: Whisky Michael Jackson: Malt Whisky 6th edition Malt Whisky Yearbook by Ingvar Rhode 101 Whiskies to try before you die by Ian Buxton: great fun to read; same category but more expensive and more content is The World's best whiskys by mr. Roskrow the last one for controversial reading is Whisky classified by David Wishart; I personally do not agree with All which is written in this read but it helps to get another view on the topic

There are other very good books out there ( from Charles McLean etc.) but the ones I mentiones above would provide a decent theoretical background for your further investigations...

one more thing: websites are also excellent sources of Information such as the usual suspects like Serge's Whiskyfun, whiskybase, whiskyisrael, dramming and more specialised stuff like nonjatta for japanese Whiskys and Whiskyscience for a deeper insight of the chemical and physical process.

D Roskrow's World best whiskies

I would agree with the choices listed, and add: Charles MacLean's "Whiskypedia" and his "World Whiskey", written by Dave Broom, Tom Bruce-Gardyne, Ian Buxton, Charles MacLean, Peter Mulryan, Hans Offringa, and Gavin D. Smith. Harder to find, dated, but a must have for any Scotch whisky connoisseur, "Whisky" by Aeneas MacDonald.

To second one or two other people, The World's Best Whiskies by Dominic Roskrow is very good. Got my copy a few days ago and not put it down since. It is rather expensive but i managed to pick up a copy on Amazon for £5 plus P&P which is a major saving on the £30 normal price, so it's definately worth a look.

Thanks for the suggestions guys...I'll look those up.